A man who was one number short of a £5million jackpot walked away with just £1,800.
The lottery player, who is in his 60s and part of a syndicate in Enfield, bought his ticket from a newsagent in the north London borough on July 28.
When he returned to the shop brandishing his ticket the man was gutted to discover how little he'd won, My London reported.
Despite being just one number short of bagging the £5,162,779 jackpot, he went home with £1,800.
“He came in with the ticket and it was like a big shock really (that he hadn't won as much as he hoped he would)," the newsagent who served the man said.
"It was just disbelief. It’s hard to explain the actual feeling.
“He’s a regular customer, a lively guy, well known in the area, everyone knows he won and was just short of that (jackpot) and everyone just felt for him."
He added: "£1,800 - how far does it go these days?"
The newsagent, who can only pay out £500 in prize money, had to send the man away empty handed and cursing his luck.
Another customer who was in the shop at time saw the man looking flustered before asking the newsagent to double check if that was all the prize money he would get.
“He looked gutted," she recalled.
"It's not every day that someone misses a jackpot by one number.
"I felt sorry for him because you want to hear happy news. If they're lucky you hope a bit of good luck rubs off.
“It’s better not to win anything than being so close to winning a fortune, that puts you in another league, but £1,000 doesn’t."
The newsagent also revealed that near misses were not that unusual.
He said: “I had a man last year, he had won £12,000 but it could have been £6 million, and then there are people who don’t check.
"Another man here, he does the same numbers every week, he didn’t do it that one week and all the numbers came up. It happens.”
When asked if he thought his shop was lucky he revealed he had at least one person who had won big money in the past.
“It’s a good feeling to hand back the ticket and say there’s something big here," he said.
"But the shop is definitely lucky for me. It was rundown when I first got it and I’ve done well.”
He offered a word of advice for would-be millionaires, cautioning against the allure of the bigger jackpots.
He explained: “You have more chance on the Lotto than EuroMillions; it’s much harder to win.”
